Chapter 44: Get Through The Odds
Craig
"Master Craig, How Do You Feel?"
Craig blinks, nearly jolting at the sound of Stripe's voice. After his friends stopped talking, he's been in a daze ever since. He presses his lips into a line when he feels a dull pain in the bottom of his feet. "Fine, but my feet are starting to ache." It feels like he's been standing for hours.
"Ah, Well, Half An Hour Has Gone By Since We've Begun." No wonder. "You Can Ask One Of Your Friends To Soothe The Pain For You."
Craig would rather not do that. They might think Stripe's magical energy is starting to effect him. "Is it okay if I move around a little?"
"Yes, But Be Sure Not To Step Out Of The Aura's Perimeter."
Craig looks down and around. He's got a good amount of space. He raises his head while looking over at the others within the aura, and frowns. Wendy, Cloud, Ingrum, and Henrietta look so focused performing Enhanced Purification, their eyes are closed. Craig feels like he's slacking off. Well, he hasn't been doing anything to contribute to begin with, he's just acting as a source for Stripe to channel his magic out. He guesses that counts as helping in some way. He lets out a quiet sigh and decides to sit down instead. The second he bends his knees, he hears someone gasp.
"Craig! Are you okay?!"
Craig feels bad for wanting to laugh, Clyde sounded genuinely concerned just now. He sits down crossing his legs on the damp, hard, and cold ground, not worried about his pants getting dirty and wet since the raincoat will absorb the rain stains. "Relax, I'm fine. I'm just resting my legs."
Bebe huffs. "Don't scare us like that, jeez," she grumbles, although relieved to know Craig is okay.
"Sorry," Craig says. As the ache in his feet start to abate, he notices the multiple screeching of monsters sounding over the slow falling raindrops. This seems like good progress so far, given only half an hour has passed. Perhaps after another hour or so, the rain will stop completely. The monsters, on the other hand, might prove to be a problem once they break out. Craig gets the feeling that nighttime is-
"Ngh." That pained grunt came from Ingrum. He chuckles weakly. "Seems they've managed to destroy my barriers."
The monsters can be heard rushing up to the rooftop based on the increased volume of their shrieking.
Night was a lot closer than Craig expected it to be. He hopes his friends will be able to hold out.
/ /
"Ready yourselves," Raven says, her eyes narrowing.
"Right," Yuna says. "We mustn't take the monsters lightly now that night is upon us, and we don't have enough time to devise a strategy." She summons Kenny's Dark and Light gloves around his hands, the black glove covering his left hand and the white glove covering his right hand.
"Our main goal is to protect them at all costs," Kyle says, looking at Cloud, Craig, Wendy, Henrietta, and Ingrum within the radiant aura.
"Against a whole bunch of monsters at that," Leopold says nervously, making the teens tense up. This won't be his and Tweek's first time fighting monsters during this time of day, but it will be for the others. They are at a great disadvantage in terms of strength and numbers.
"We're just gonna have to do the best we can," Kenny says, earning nods from the group.
The monsters are steadily approaching at high speed.
"I'm More Than Happy To Fight In Your Stead To Relieve You Of Your Stress."
Stan almost huffs. Chris' eagerness couldn't have been more obvious. Stan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He summons his sheathed katana in his hand while opening his eyes. "I got this, so don't you dare try to take over."
"Hmph."
Four monsters soar up over the rooftop with a hiss, their freakishly deformed features illuminated by the white aura, their two to four red eyes glaring at the casters inside of it. The flying quartet open their mouths wide, preparing to shoot a red laser beam at them.
Stan and Kenny are the first ones to act—they both dash towards the monsters, splitting up as they quickly pass by the aura. Stan unsheathes his katana while Kenny balls his hands into fists, a white aura manifesting around his left fist and a black aura covering his right fist. They take care of the four monsters with ease—two are sliced cleanly in half and the other two lose the top half of their bodies from brute force. The mutilated corpses plummet a really long distance down to the ground. However, there are many more monsters that are either flying or crawling up the walls.
"Looks like we'll be in charge of the front," Stan says, intimidated by the large horde.
With a smirk, Kenny cracks his knuckles on each hand. "They won't get past us, no matter how many of them there are." Stan really admires his optimism, and slowly but surely, he's starting to feel the same way. If Stan thinks about it, this situation is almost similar to the monster outbreak five years ago. They survived that with less people fighting compared to now, and everyone knew how to hold their own and could rely on Stan's mother and their Inner Guardians to have their backs. Stan believes they can live through this as well, as long as they keep their senses sharp and remain composed. He and Kenny make quick work of the frantically advancing monsters.
"Some are coming from behind us." Right after Raven calmly said that, the lift is shattered to pieces. She and the others turn to see a monster land on the roof with a heavy thud, it has a long body to fit five legs on each side and a big red eye. Kyle conjures an Orb of Darkness from his palm and throws it at the monster's eye. It swiftly dodges to the side and charges at them like a raging bull.
"Holy shit, it's fast!" Clyde shrinks back, surprised and horrified by its speed.
Raven gets in front of the teens and Yuna, and stretches out her arms. Black auras form around her hands, then two spiky vines of the same color shoot out of the auras. One vine slithers to the right side and the other takes the left. They coil tightly around the legs, causing the monster to fall harshly to the ground.
"Now!" Raven orders.
Just as Kyle is about to kill the monster with another Orb of Darkness, more monsters clamber out of the hole where the lift used to be. "I'll handle this." Yuna conjures a grey shield wide enough to block the monsters from going any further, she then commands her shield to move by pushing her arm forward slightly. It shoves the group of monsters back until they're forced down into the hole. Yuna bends her hand downward, prompting her shield to topple over the hole. While she was doing that, Kyle had already taken care of the captured monster and Raven's vines have disappeared.
"They're coming from the sides too," Tweek says, facing the left side of the tower. There are many of them on each side, they are most definitely surrounded.
"We're going to have to split up," Raven says. "Yuna and I will take one side, and the rest of you will take the other side." They immediately comply with her strategy and rush off in opposite directions, some of them throwing projectiles at the monsters.
All of the commotion is starting to make Wendy worry. She hasn't heard anyone sound like they're in pain, but it's only a matter of time until someone gets hurt. Nobody is able to heal-
"Don't lose focus," Henrietta says, as if she sensed Wendy becoming anxious.
"Yeah, don't worry. Everyone's kickin' some serious ass right now," Craig comments, watching Stan and Kenny kill the monsters in great abundance. Yet, there's still no end to them. He wonders how long they and the others will be able to keep this up for.
Wendy opens her eyes to see Stan and Kenny holding their own exceptionally well even while protecting them, making sure no enemies slip past their defenses. The scene puts a small smile on her face. "Sorry, it won't happen again." She closes her eyes and resumes her concentration, though her magical energy is nearly depleted. She knows they've been at this for a long time.
"How are you feeling, Ingrum?" Cloud asks.
"I'm fit to continue for another few hours or so."
Craig looks over at Ingrum, he can't tell if he's lying or not.
"Then that's when we'll stop," Henrietta says. "Will you be able to hold out for that long, Wendy?"
"I'm almost out of magical energy, but Elena will continue for me until then."
"Hmm, okay. As long as you don't collapse afterwards."
"I won't."
"What about you, Craig?" Henrietta asks. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm still fine." Craig won't mention being cold since he's most likely not the only one. It is nighttime now, after all, so the temperature is bound to drop even more—especially since it's raining as well.
Suddenly, there's a low growl from behind them. It startles Craig and Wendy. The moment they're about to turn around, Stan runs by and slices off the monster's head. He grits his teeth when he sees an assembly of monsters coming up from behind the tower. "Just how many openings does this tower have?" He mutters under his breath. "Kenny, I'll take care of the ones in the back."
Kenny punches a hole in a monster's chest before responding back. "Okay." The monster doesn't die right away, so he quickly deals a final blow to its head, then fends off the rest with either his fists or Orbs of Lights or Orbs of Darkness'.
"You all hold out for a few more hours," Henrietta says loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Okay. I'm gonna leave this here." Stan sets his sheath down on the ground inside the aura and hurries off, cutting down the creatures that are heading for the Light casters along the way. He leaps over the shield that's sealed the hole on the ground, the monsters banging on it erratically. They won't be breaking that anytime soon, no matter how hard and long they keep striking it. Stan glances at his left and right, glad to see everyone else handling the swarm of monsters without any difficulties. He didn't know Leopold is also good at close combat, he modified his auras into hand blades. Bebe, Clyde, Kyle, and Tweek are only throwing out magical projectiles. Yuna is doing most of the killing and it seems Raven doesn't mind at all. Stan reaches the back of the tower and cleaves two monsters from their midsections.
"Don't You Find It Rather Strange?" Chris asks.
Stan furrows his eyebrows confusedly as he stabs a monster in its eye. "What do you mean?"
"These Things Are Being Dealt With Easily Even Though They're Supposed To Be Powerful During The Night."
Stan widens his eyes slightly, but continues to cut through every monster. Chris is right. The numbers are no longer a concerning factor and neither are the monsters' strength. The only thing they accomplished was destroying Ingrum's barriers. That's as far as they'll get. Stan smirks. "I guess this shows that we've gotten a lot stronger."
"Perhaps That Could Be The Case. For Now."
Down on the ground floor, the pounding against the stone wall persists. There are small cracks now and they're slowly getting bigger, until a mighty force bulldozes its way out of the Research and Production Lab. The size of the crater indicates a large entity did it. The creature's hefty feet leads it out into the unlit corridor, and it releases a long and loud guttural roar, as if proud for successfully freeing itself. It has five big red eyes, four of them circling one eye. It starts breathing heavily, then after a few moments of it standing still, it hurriedly stomps towards the entrance, which has been broken down.
Back up on the roof, the fighting and the Enhanced Purification process are both still going smoothly. No one is injured nor exhausted yet. The grey color in the clouds has expanded a little more.
After killing a monster with an Orb of Light and Darkness, Yuna widens her eyes upon sensing a new enemy that is approaching. "This energy..." "Something big is coming!" She shouts. That's when everyone feels the tower start shaking. All of the monsters suddenly cease all sounds and movement.
Kenny feels the vibrations closer to where he's at, the few monsters before him retreat, as do the rest of them everywhere else around the tower. A big hand with razor-sharp claws reaches up and seizes him. "Damn!" He couldn't react in time.
"Kenny!" Wendy exclaims. Craig stands up, wanting to help Kenny but isn't sure if he wants to risk casting his own spell. What if it overlaps Stripe's magic and cancels the incantation as a result?
Instead of running, Stan disappears in a blue flash of light, executing Teleportation Dash to get to Kenny posthaste. He raises and brings his katana down on the monster's wrist, but the sharp, bloodstained blade doesn't even leave a cut on its skin. It retaliates by squeezing Kenny, one of his eyes shutting tightly as a thin string of blood slips through the very thin gap between his clenched teeth and sliding down his chin. His body is gone in a white flash of light, and he appears beside Stan, coughing a few times. The thick, stretchy arm quickly slinks away.
"Are you okay?" Stan asks Kenny.
"Y-yeah. Good thing you used Teleportation Dash, I forgot all about that," Kenny says, wiping off the blood on his black glove.
A silhouette lunges high into the air and lands a feet away from Yuna's shield in the middle of the tower with an impact so strong that it rattles the building and cracks the roof. Surprisingly, the ground doesn't cave in. The new monster is five meters tall and girthy, it has two arms and two legs. Its mouth is on its torso since its five eyes take up the entirety of its head, its fangs sneering at the intense Light magic the aura is emitting.
"How the hell did you two capture a brute that size?" Cloud asks Henrietta and Ingrum, frowning at the giant monster.
Henrietta is glaring at it. "We didn't. We've never seen that thing before."
Ingrum chuckles. "It seems the monsters decided to work together in a literal sense. Who knew they would be smart of enough to do this?"
"You vermin will pay for spreading this innumerable amount of distasteful magic." The gruff spoken threat comes as a big surprise to almost everyone except Leopold. Him and his friends, and Raven and Yuna, who were nearing the others, stop in their tracks after hearing the monster speak. They are a few meters away from their companions and the monster.
"Wow, so Beings of Darkness' aren't the only things that can talk," Clyde comments.
"Yeah, it's pretty rare for ordinary monsters to attain coherent speech," Kyle says.
Leopold thinks back to the frightening entity he fought in the attic of the Tweak's shambly home, it could also talk, however its manner of speaking was slow but intelligible to understand. Turns out it wasn't a Being of Darkness at all.
Raven narrows her eyes. "It's about to attack!"
Yuna traps the monster inside a barrier before it can do anything.
"Feeble," the behemoth scoffs. It raises a hand against the barrier and with a mere thrust, the barrier breaks into shards. Yuna grunts, momentarily weakened. Her other shield disappears.
Raven attempts to ensnare the creature with multiple vines, but they get grabbed. She silently commands the spikes to become sharper, they pierce through the big hands. "Are you trying to tickle us?" A barrage of different colored orbs blasts its head and body. Once the dust clouds vanish, the monster appears unscathed. Its fangs arch into a grin. "Our turn. Hmph!" A small shockwave sends out a fierce pressure that stuns everyone rigid. They then discover that it froze them in place.
"W-what the?!" Bebe exclaims in a panic as she tries to move any of her limbs. "I can't move!"
"Tch, cunning freak," Henrietta curses through gritted teeth.
The monster giggles at their uneasiness. "Can't have you cretins running amok nor fruitlessly fighting back. Oh?" Five eyes look at Kyle's tensed form. "You are...Ah, the Master's Apprentice."
Kyle remembers being called that once before by the first Being of Darkness that terrorized South Park. He was too young to comprehend it then, and Luke didn't explain to him what it meant. He only told him that he wouldn't go anywhere near the Dark Master, and so assuredly at that. Now that Kyle is older, he understands that the connection he has to the Dark Master is deeper than he thought. However, he won't betray his friends. Not in a million years. He narrows his eyes. "I am not his apprentice."
"Oh, but you are," the monster says. "Your powers are very much like the Master's, it will flourish greatly under his tutelage."
"Is that why I'm going to go to his castle after the moon is destroyed?" Kyle wonders. There's also the mysterious individual that will accompany him there.
"That...Is Probable," Luke murmurs, sounding as if he didn't want to admit it.
"What the hell is it talkin' about?" Clyde asks.
"So that's the reason they regarded him that way back in the lab," Ingrum says.
Stan refuses to believe it. "Kyle's powers are nothing like that bastard's."
The monster snarls at him. "Do not insult our Master, you impudent insect!" It looks back at Kyle. "We won't kill you, Kyle Broflovski, only your friends will perish and you will be taken to the Master. Though, it will be a lot sooner than he predicted."
"Like hell you will!" Stan tries to regain control of his arms and legs, but it still feels as if his body is refusing to listen.
The monster chuckles. "Struggle all you want, you can't escape death." It starts with Raven first. Although she anticipated this, being unable to move prevents her from revoking her spell and being pulled in to get stabbed in the chest by the monster's black forked tongue when it opens its mouth. Blood spurts out from the wound and Raven's mouth when she coughs. Her vines vanish.
"No! Raven!" Leopold shouts, horrified.
The monster shoves Raven's body aside as it spits the blood out. "Bleh, how putrid." Raven lays on the ground on her side, a pained expression on her face with a thick line of blood on her chin. The red fluid slowly begins to seep beneath her. The huge monster approaches its main target, its footsteps thumping throughout the night and indenting the ground with big footprints, but stops suddenly. "Hm?" It turns its head, looking straight at Tweek. It frowns. "Well aren't you a strange one. We didn't notice this at first, but we sense that your magical energy is fairly similar to ours, yet not at the same time." Tweek silently scowls at it, it's probably talking about the smidgen of Light magic in his Magical Core. "We'll deal with you last." The giant stomps off.
"We need to figure out how to get outta its spell," Bebe says, desperate.
Clyde nervously watches the monster gradually get closer to his friends. He then realizes something. "Wait, can't our Inner Guardians do something?"
"Oh yeah." Bebe takes a deep breath to calm down, then appears to start communicating with Emerald in her mind.
Leopold hasn't taken his eyes that are now glistening with tears away from Raven. He can see the blood steadily forming into a puddle. He wants to help her, to heal her up until the injury is completely gone, but his strong desire isn't enough to free him from the restriction spell. On instinct, Tweek tries to raise a hand towards Leopold. The invisible constraints that bind him and the others instantly reminds him that he can't comfort his friend through physical contact. Tweek is really worried about Raven as well, but he knows that she will heal herself once she regains her composure. "Don't worry, Leo. She'll be okay." As if she heard his reassuring words, Raven musters a small smile at him and Leopold. Leopold smiles in relief.
"I have good news and bad news, guys," Bebe says. "The good news is that our Inner Guardians can help us, but the bad news is that it'll only be temporary."
"Then we're gonna have to make sure every second counts," Kyle says.
"Yeah. So what do they have to do?" Clyde asks.
The thudding sounds stop, meaning the monster has reached its intended destination. It looks at the two Light spirits and the three humans inside of the vibrant aura. "You five are awfully calm, despite your predicament."
Henrietta smirks. "Heh, were we that obvious?" Four magical needles manifest in between her fingers and she flings them at the monster's head. It's startled, but manages to deflect them with a swipe of its hand. Cloud fires a big Orb of Light at its head. When it's about to smack it away, he shoots another one at its torso. It uses its other hand to thwart the projectile, but it can't defend itself from the two orbs Craig throws. Stripe told him that it was okay for him to cast his own spell, however in order to do so, Stripe had to pause the Enhanced Purification incantation for a moment.
The monster grunts, merely from the explosive impact. It didn't take any damage though. "Impossible," it growls as it lowers its hands and curls them into fists at its sides. "How did you pests free yourselves from our paralysis?" Little did it know they aren't the only ones that are about to be unaffected by its spell. The discharge of pure magical energy from the aura is diminishing the spell's effect on Stan and Kenny.
"As if we'll tell you," Henrietta retorts. She hurls eight needles at the monster, four from each hand. Cloud and Craig launch an Orb of Light right after.
A red barrier with wispy, green edges protects the monster. "We believe it has something to do with that obnoxious aura. We have all the more reason to get rid of it now and you lot along with it." The monster opens and extends its hands towards its barrier. "Go forth and enfeeble our foes," it utters. The barrier hovers forward in a blur and engulfs the entirety of the aura, cutting off and suppressing the beam. The grey hue in the clouds is nowhere near bright enough, thus darkness swallows the entire area.
All eyes gape at the massive barrier. "It's strong enough...to..." Henrietta's words slur as fatigue sets in. She puts a hand up to her head.
"This...isn't good." Ingrum collapses face first to the ground, dark water droplets splashing into the air. He was already weakened due to the destruction of all his barriers and on top of that, his magical energy was still being drained while casting a semi-advanced spell.
"I-Ingrum..." Cloud drops down on one knee.
Wendy groans and buckles down on both knees. Craig hugs himself as he also falls onto his knees, his body trembling and his teeth gritted. His body feels so cold and so weak, he's struggling to stay conscious.
"Oh No." Stripe sees the aura promptly losing power through the barrier, its bright and dense transparency fading. Unfortunately, he can't do anything thanks to the strength of the barrier. It is not a normal one.
The giant monster snickers. A green orb hits the back of its head. With a growl, it spins around to see Bebe, Clyde, Kyle, Tweek, and Yuna getting ready to bombard it with more orbs. Leopold ran to Raven the moment he was able to move. "You-" Rapid footsteps from behind alert the monster into turning back around. Kenny jumps up to its head, his left fist tightly clenched, a white aura encasing his black glove. His friends and Inner Guardian save him from harm by throwing magical orbs at different areas on the monster's body to distract it.
"Gah! You bothersome scum!" It shouts in anger.
Stan stabs the ground with his katana, putting a palm against the hilt while his other hand remains on the handle as he closes his eyes. "Dark Arts of Nature..." A dark blue aura emitting red sparks of static surrounds him. The blade stained with purple blood turns into a bronze color. "Roots of Stone." Just as the spell's name implies, two roots made of stone shoot out of the ground beneath the monster and loop around its legs, going up to its arms.
"Why yoooou," it seethes.
"Say goodbye to your eyesight, fucker." Kenny aims for the middle eyeball, really hoping that the aura explodes like it did last time. Perhaps it only detonates in actual battles. Just as he's about to punch the eye, it unexpectedly changes to dark green. Kenny's eyes widen and darkens to a dark brown color. His fist goes slack, the aura disappearing as a result.
"How about you say goodbye to your free will, fool," the monster retorts arrogantly. Boisterous, demonic screams resound from nearby, putting a stop to the attacks. "Ah, excellent timing. Hmph!" The monster flexes its arms and legs to break the roots. The brittle pieces crumble to the ground. It gently grabs Kenny, who looks like a doll devoid of life.
"Kenny!/Kenneth!" Stan and Yuna shout. Before either of them rushes to Kenny's aid, a thunderous and violent force shakes the tower again.
"What the fuck?!" Clyde yells. Bebe screams.
Six monsters have jumped up to the roof, one of them is a meter away from Stan. They are just as huge, but have diverse and equally grotesque appearances. The only feature they have in common are the five eyes. One monster has two heads and a muscular build, one head just has the eyes and the other just has the mouth full of pointy teeth. The second abomination has an abnormally large head shaped like a lightbulb, its body is small and so are its four legs. It's giggling excitedly. The third creature is a canine with two tails. The fourth monster looks like a moth with human legs, its large wings are jagged. The fifth monster is a headless humanoid, its eyes and mouth are on its torso, and its arms are long enough for its hands to touch the ground. It has a shell covered in spikes on its back. The last one has a round body and is standing on numerous thin legs.
"We could use the reinforcements since you all wish to delay your inevitable deaths." The burly monster sets Kenny down to the ground. He remains motionless.
The six new monsters take deliberately slow steps towards the humans and spirits, their predatory grins greatly perturbing in the dark.
Stan gulps nervously as a bead of sweat trails down the side of his face, his heart pounding. He's never felt so terrified, being in the dark surrounded by monsters he can't see clearly seems as though he's experiencing a very horrific nightmare. The lightbulb monster is leisurely closing in on him, its giggling becoming louder and hysterical even.
Through half-lidded eyes, Craig's amber irises flicker a few times until they remain silver.